


Same War, Different Battles

by Currently_Obsessed



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, College Student Armin Arlert, College Student Eren Yeager, College Student Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), College Student Mikasa Ackerman, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-05 12:41:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12190191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Currently_Obsessed/pseuds/Currently_Obsessed
Summary: Titans used to rule over the human race. Drove them nearly to extinction over night. But when the first recorded titan shifter came to be, the tide had finally turned and humanity was able to win the war that was waged for over a hundred years. The names of all the heroes may have been lost, but not their stories. But then again that was nearly 2000 years ago. Now things were different, people can live a life that isn't hidden by a wall. You can go wherever you want without worrying about getting eaten. No matter what language you speak, what your race is, the color of your skin or the shape of your eyes. No one had to worry anymore about the Titans.This is the life that Eren lives in. But he has always felt a pull to the Titan Era, as it is known. Hell, he's literally dreamed of that Era vividly since he was fifteen. So that's why he chose to go to college for it. But what happens when many of the faces that hes dreamed of as a youth start popping up at his University? And what more could be waiting for Eren and his friends? All the secrets, blood and horror of the past will come to light. No matter how long it's been. Just because they think the war is over, means that it is for everyone.





	Same War, Different Battles

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know. I shouldn't have started another story. Especially since I haven't finished the series yet, but I am a lot further than I was when I started I'm Only Human, so hopefully I will be able to write this and it make some sense to people. So I hope you enjoy this. This is my first college AU and reincarnation AU so hopefully it all ties together nicely.

_It felt like I was flying through the trees. But the smell of gas burned in my nose. I held the duel blades in my hands and felt all for triggered under both of my index and middle fingers. The grappling hooks pulled me closer to my desired destination. The branches were like fingers, clawing at my hair and clothes._

_The green and brown of the trees all blurred around me. I didn't know why, but I knew I couldn't turn around, if I did, I knew I would die. It felt like people were already dead because they made that mistake. I panted as I burst through the tree line. I saw many people in green cloaks with a pair of wings on the back, all on horseback who seemed to be running. There were several of them with extra horses._

_I sheathed my blades and jumped. I landed hard on my feet and someone with an extra horse came up and stopped. It was a petite blonde boy with his hair falling just above his shoulder, split right down the middle. We didn't exchange words as he came up to me._

_His sharp blue eyes screamed determination. I quickly mounted the horse, unsure of how I knew how to ride, but I just did. I yipped and dug my heel into the horses flank to get it to move. I held the reigns and followed the rest of the group._  Soldiers,  _my brain supplied,_ they are all soldiers. Fighting for humanity. 

 _I clenched my teeth, still unsure of why we were running. At least, not until I heard the loud booming. It was a rhythm. Like... footsteps._ A titan,  _my brain supplied yet again. My heart filled with my both fear and hatred. I wanted to turn and fight it, but everyone else was running, so I needed to as well. Too many people have already died because of this Female Titan._

Wait? How did I know it was Female? _But my thoughts were muddled after that inquiry, so I didn't have much time to think about it._

 _"Captain_! _" A shrill female voice called out among the throng of soldiers. "What are your orders?!" She demanded. She was a tiny little thing with light brown hair that fell just past her slender shoulders, again parted down the middle. I couldn't see her face from here but I could have sworn I should know what it looks like. Or even know her name. Her and the male that gave me the horse seemed like people I should know._

_"Captain!"_

* * *

My eyes shot open and I gasped loudly. Nothing about the dream should have scared me, but I still felt dread in my heart. I looked to my side and saw my adopted sister Mikasa. Her black hair hangs barely in her eyes, her face nearly emotionless. I could tell from her eyes though that she was glad that I was finally awake. Since the incident 10 years ago, she has always been far more comfortable around me than anyone else. Even Armin she wasn't as comfortable with. Now I'm not saying that she doesn't care for him, just that she tends to cling to me more. Whether that is because she's grateful or just codependent on me is still up for debate.

"Mikasa?" I asked, groggy. She tucked a stray strand of ebony hair behind her ear and straightened her slightly hunched posture. 

"Good, you're awake. You kept mumbling in your sleep. Are... are you crying?" She asked. Her soft voice suddenly filled with mild concern. I was surprised. I placed a finger to my eyes and felt the tears as they slowly fell down my cheek. Strange, I haven't cried in my sleep from a dream in nearly 5 years.

"Can you not tell anyone I was crying?" I asked her. She gave me a small smile and nodded. The smile lit up her almost black eyes. They were a pretty color, but a little strange to see. I sat up and smiled back at her. Until I felt how gross my mouth felt. It was like I has hiding a wholly mammoth in my mouth. I cringed. 

She sighed. "Your mom said you need to get ready to go. Armin's truck will be here at any moment, and I really don't think you want to be keep them waiting," She said before turning and leaving. Her now chin length hair swished ever so slightly as she moved. She had cut it a few days ago at my suggestion since I knew with her major, long hair wouldn't be the best.

This had been a long journey for her to decide what she wanted to study. She finally realized that she wanted to be a Forensic Psychologist. She wanted to help the FBI track down criminals based on their minds.

Since she was nearly put into human trafficking at a young age, she hated the idea that many others were struggling for mere survival every day. Something she would have gone through if I hadn't shown up that day. She knew that she couldn't always be at my side, but with me encouraging her to help others, she finally decided that she needed to do this. Even if she still coddles me like a child some days. What surprised her and Armin was the fact that I wasn't joining any sort of military or police task force with my weird sense of justice. I would just laugh.

Did I want to help people? Yes. Damn did I want to. I wanted so badly to lock up every damn criminal that dared to walk the streets. But there was something in my head that told me that I needed to study the titans and what they are and what they are capable of.

That part of history just... drew me in and didn't want to release its claws from my brain.

I got up and maneuvered around the boxes in my room to get to my scarcely filled closet. There was only a few of my summer clothes in here since I wouldn't be living on campus the entire year. There were also a few winter clothes in here for winter break, but most of them are packed away in U-Haul boxes. I pulled out a plain dark tan shirt and jeans. I quickly showered and threw on my shoes.

I tried to tame my hair, I did, but it wasn't having any of that. It decided to be unruly and all over the place as I continued my morning. Even my mother tried to get it to stay down, but no matter what, it was unkempt as usual.

When the knock at the door declared that Armin has arrived, with his grandfather's F150, we would finally start packing. Armin was a little ball of sunshine. Built like a daffodil, but the smartest person I know. He skipped a grade growing up and graduated early. But he waited to start college so he could have us all together.

His blonde hair was parted down the middle and fell just past his chin. His eyes were a very light blue, like the sky, but more concentrated. His face was slightly round, but you could see that there were sharp likes just around the corner given time. "Hi guys!" He greeted, voice far too cheerful for being eight in the morning. He handed us each a coffee from Starbucks. One was just plain black coffee, for Mikasa and the other had just a bit of vanilla creamer in it. I didn't like the bitter taste of coffee. I didn't even like the wine that my neighbor, Dot Pyxis, offered me when I had turned 15. My parents still didn't know about that incident.

"Hey Ar, packed and ready to go?" I asked. He nodded with a simple 'Mhmm.' I smiled as I sipped my coffee. The three of us headed back to my room and started grabbing boxes. There wasn't that many. Maybe 10 or 12 at most. Mikasa had maybe 15. She had a bit more than I did since she still had some of her parent’s things. She couldn't bear to part with them. Not that I blamed her in the least. We packed everything into the bed of the truck and the back seat, making it to where all three of us would need to squeeze into the front seat just so that we all made it to the school in one trip.

The school wasn't far, thank God. 

But Trost University was still a good two hours away. I had gone to Shinganshina Community College for a year so that I could get my basics out of the way. Normally someone would go there for two years to get their associates degree, but I transferred after one year so that I can go to a better University and live on campus. My parents both agreed that it would be good for me to live away from home and on campus so that I can focus more on my studies. During just that one year, I nearly had to drop out with all the distractions of home baring down on me. But with Mikasa and Armin's help, I was able to stay in school and get good enough grades to transfer.

It also helped that my dad was a doctor and able to help pay for my schooling so I don't have that many student loans to pay back in the future.

"Eren, are you okay with sitting in the middle seat? I mean, it's kinda cramped," Armin asked, drawing me out of my thoughts. I nodded.

"Yeah, Ar, I'm fine, honest," I said. He smiled and buckled up. He pulled out of my parent’s driveway and headed towards the highway. We drove mostly in silence. Mikasa looked out the window at the rolling hills and forests while I was in control of the AUX cable. Armin focused on driving, but still managed to critic my taste in music. He loved classic music, like the Beatles or Elvis Presley, whereas I loved rock, bordering on screamo. I didn't play any in the car, but I still wanted to. It’s what I played when I drove alone or was in my room studying. I played it because sometimes my mind was just too loud for me to focus, so if I have something to drown it out, I'm able to focus more.

The two hours passed in a blur, even if my ass and legs were going numb from not being able to have proper blood circulation in them.

By the time we made it to campus, I was about ready to push Armin out of my way just to stretch my legs. I hated long car rides. Made me feel cooped up. We managed to find parking and grabbed some of our stuff. We went to administrations first to sign in. The woman sitting behind the desk was a friendly enough person, helped us get the things that we needed. But I couldn't help but feel like I had seen her somewhere. She was an older lady, her graying hair and wrinkled smile showed us that, but I couldn't help but feel I had seen her somewhere, maybe when I was ten?

_"I don't see my son; he was supposed to go on this expedition."_

I couldn't help but feel confused. Where the hell did that thought come from. "Excuse me, Miss, but do you have a son?" I asked. She smiled sadly.

"I did, but he died over seas. He was in the Marines. He was killed in an explosion, the largest part of him that they could find was his arm." Her eyes glazed over as she spoke these words. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. I took her hand.

"I'm very sorry for your loss, Ma'am, but I'm sure that he is in a much better place," I said, giving her any sort of comfort that I could. She smiled and wiped away some of the tears that were shed. 

"Thank you, young man," She said. "But may I ask how you knew I had a son?" She looked somewhat surprised now as she thought more about it. I didn't know if I should tell her the truth, that the thought had just popped in my head, that I had never even seen her son, but felt that I already knew her story.

"Just a hunch, I suppose," I said, giving her one final smile before heading to our dorm.

We didn't speak as we walked. The woman at the front had told us that our RA's may be making rounds within the next couple days, but that one had an issue with things being unclean, so to be careful with that. She also said that there was a communal kitchen that said RA was in charge of. She said that he had a habit of inspecting things randomly, so to make sure that everything was always clean or else he would have a hissy fit. That idea nearly made me laugh. But seeing as my dad was a doctor and we had a rigorous cleaning habit too, it wasn't too surprising to me.

It also turned out that me and Armin were roommates whereas Mikasa was roommates with a girl named Sasha Blouse. That name had sounded familiar. Maybe it was one of my dad's patients? Hmm. Strange.

We had to take several trips to get all of our stuff upstairs. I struggled with one of my boxes of books as Mikasa carried several boxes filled with various items. It looked like it must weigh far more than what my one box weighed, so I gawked after her. But she didn't so much as bat an eye to show that she was struggling with all of the boxes she carried.

We had started to unpack at least some of our clothes and bedding so that we could sleep that night when we had gotten a knock on our door. I looked at Armin and he shrugged. When I opened the door, a boy with two toned hair and an undercut stood before me. 

"Yeah?" I asked.

He gave me an unimpressed stare. "Just a warning that a very angry midget is heading this way. He claims he's the RA, so I would make sure that everything is clean around here. He yelled at me and my roommate for having a mess already," He said. And with that, he just walked away.

"Who was it, Eren?" Armin asked. I closed the door and locked it.

"Don't know, but he looked to be making rounds to warn people of the RA," I said.

"Did he say the name of the RA? Or himself?" I shook my head. We continued to unpack slowly, making sure not to make a mess as we did so in case the RA made his way to our room. As we went along, I told Armin about my dream.

He listened to the whole thing. I always told him about these dreams that seemed far too real. He didn't know what they meant, but his grandfather thinks that ghosts are warning me about something. That's why you never tell a religious old man about your dreams of things long since passed.


End file.
